


A Cult Classic

by hardlylurking



Series: What Happens in Derry (is hard to explain) [3]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Everybody Lives, F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), because it is great, because stanley, but you should anyways, you don't need to have seen American Vandal to read this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 01:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21329662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlylurking/pseuds/hardlylurking
Summary: Successful student documentarians Peter Maldonado and Sam Ecklund return for their third series. Follow their investigation into Derry, hometown to the rich, famous, missing, and dead. Who is behind the centuries of unsolved crimes? A bully? A cult? A demon disguised as a dancing clown? Find out in A Cult Classic.aka the American Vandal documentary that nobody asked for and I wrote anyway.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: What Happens in Derry (is hard to explain) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527608
Comments: 14
Kudos: 121





	A Cult Classic

**Author's Note:**

> This here is a documentary a la American Vandal, which if you haven't seen is an amazing TV show about two high school kids who make a Making a Murder/Serial style doc.
> 
> If the American Vandal part of this intrigues you and you haven't read the previous works in the series, take it as a post-canon fix it where everybody comes back to life and you are good to go!
> 
> Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who has read the previous fics. Your comments and kudos are both surprising and amazing. Kind of like finding your crush in the storage cupboard of a three star hotel.

A picturesque town, a gruesome history, and the Illuminati conspiracy that connects it all. Join us as we explore the sinister secrets that lurk behind the quaint facade of Derry, Maine.

[Panning shot of Derry’s main street, quick flashes of celebrity twitter feeds.]

Following the success of American Vandal and the praise for our second documentary, the Brownout, Sam and I are back. After getting permission from UCLA to create another series in place of our required internship, we put out word on social media to find our next case.

To be honest, what we got back was a little overwhelming.

[Tweets:

**Diana Goodwin @serialfan101B** @petrmaldo HIRE SARAH

**Cody Bartlett @codybplaysb** yo, @petrmaldo someones been stealing our mascot every week since 1992.

**jimmy ok @jimbosnaturallllly** just found out about a secret room in my high school full of recommendation letters from presidents @petrmaldo what up

**Diana Goodwin @serialfan101B** @petrmaldo HIRE SARAH

**Diana Goodwin @serialfan101B** @petrmaldo HIRE SARAH

**Diana Goodwin @serialfan101B** @petrmaldo HIRE SARAH

**okbutaliens @itsdefinitelyaliens** the area 51 raid was a huge bust. We need @petrmaldo.

**Michael Lee @mleecommissions** last week they found 12 dead in @chipublib all from more than 10 years ago. @petrmaldo help find this dude.

**Sandra Andrews @seekingjusticeforbetty** @petrmaldo my best friend went missing 30 years ago and i forgot about it until now

**Diana Goodwin @serialfan101B** @petrmaldo HIRE SARAH!!111!]

Sorry, Diana. We couldn’t afford to hire Sarah from Serial. And Michael, we tried to investigate the Chicago library, but it was still an active crime scene. There was one other very interesting tweet though.

[Tweet: **hes kinda funny guys @trashmouthforever99** @petrmaldo every few decades a bunch of kids die in the hometown of @trashmouth @williamdenbrough @beverlymarshdesigns @hanscomarchitecture]

And... that one we had to look into.

[Cuts to whiteboard timeline spanning 1875 to 2019 with stars at 2016, 1989, 1962, 1935, 1908, and 1881]

Turns out that in Derry, Maine (hometown of like, a ton of famous people) there is a series of unexplained deaths and disappearances every 27 years. The most recent cycle happened three years ago, during 2016, with 12 reported dead.

And you probably noticed those twitter shoutouts. That’s William Denbrough, the horror author; Richie Tozier, the comedian; Beverly Marsh, a fashion designer [Sam: hot fashion designer]; and Benjamin Hanscom, the architect who made that really fancy, award winning skyscraper in New York.

It’s kind of old news on the internet that these guys are all friends. I mean, there’s a whole BuzzFeed article about it from like 2016 or something.

[BuzzFeed Article: Why the coolest celebs call themselves Losers (and you should too) - December 11, 2016]

According to BuzzFeed, all of these guys were friends back in the 80’s and called themselves the Loser’s Club. In the article, they name three more members: Edward Kaspbrak, Stanley Uris, and Mike Hanlon.

[Sam tapes pictures of Eddie, Stan, and Mike to the whiteboard under photos of the other Losers]

When we decided to take the case, we reached out to all of them on twitter and the responses we got were… mixed.

[Tweets:

**Peter Maldonado @petrmaldo** Would any of the Loser’s Club be interested in talking about Derry for my new documentary? @trashmouth @williamdenbrough @beverlymarshdesigns @hanscomarchitecture @edsktozier @stanleyurisaccounting @mikeisalibrary

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** @petrmaldo it was pennywise. boom. your welcome.

**Edward Tozier @edsktozier** @trashmouth *you’re. As in, you’re a dumbass. @petrmaldo we would be happy to help with your project.

**Beverly Marsh ✔ @beverlymarshdesigns** @petrmaldo if you contact my assistant, she can help schedule a time for me and @hanscomarchitecture to meet with you.

**Mike Hanlon @mikeisalibrary** @petrmaldo can you send me your address? I have some materials for you. 

**Stanley Uris @stanleyurisaccounting** @petrmaldo No.

**William Denbrough ✔ @williamdenbrough** @petrmaldo @stanleyurisaccounting no thank you.

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** @stanleyurisaccounting @williamdenbrough listening to 99 red balloons by goldfinger

**Stanley Uris @stanleyurisaccounting** beep beep, @trashmouth.]

So we set up interviews with Beverly Marsh, Benjamin Hanscom, and Edward and Richie Tozier [Sam: seriously, this is so cool]. While we were waiting, we received a package from another Loser’s Club member, Mike Hanlon.

[Film clip:

A college apartment with white walls and a threadbare couch. Sam Ecklund opens the door and picks up a package.

Peter: What’s that?

Sam: It’s a package from Mike. Shit, it’s pretty heavy.

Peter: Here let’s set it on the table.

They place the package on the table, knocking off old coffee cups and magazines.

Peter: What’s inside?

Sam cuts open the box and begins taking out stacks of folders.

Sam: It looks like old newspaper clippings. Like, hundreds of them.]

Before our package from Mike, we were seriously struggling to put together a timeline for the disappearances. We were able to identify 12 people killed or missing in 2016 and 34 from 1989 but before that there aren’t any digitized records. Thanks to Mike, we now have newspapers, police reports, and census records going back to the 1800s.

With this new information, we can conclusively say that exactly every 27 years, as many as 100 people in Derry, Maine are killed. And here is where things get interesting. You remember one of the tweets we considered before starting this project?

[Tweet: **Sandra Andrews @seekingjusticeforbetty** @petrmaldo my best friend went missing 30 years ago and i forgot about it until now]

Well, her friend’s name was Betty Ripsom. Who, at 14 years old, went missing back in 1989. I feel pretty bad actually, but it seems clear what happened to her.

[Newspaper clipping: Untold number of children’s body parts found in Derry Canal]

After reviewing all of the things in the package, we also figured out why William Denbrough didn’t want to speak to us.

[Newspaper clipping: Local boy missing - Georgie Denbrough, age 7, last seen outside home]

Turns out one of the dead kids is his own brother. I really wish we knew that before we tweeted him.

  
  


I mentioned at the beginning of the documentary that this is an Illuminati conspiracy. As you can probably guess, it surrounds the Loser’s Club. If you’re as big a Trashmouth fan as Sam, then you remember back in the summer of 2016 when he… well, when he lost his mind.

[YouTube clip: Richie Tozier throwing up on stage]

[Newspaper article: Richie Tozier cancels remaining 2016 tour dates, claims death of loved one]

[YouTube clip: Richie Tozier fighting with Delta attendant over extra suitcase]

[YouTube clip: Richie Tozier crying on a park bench]

Here’s the thing, and I have to thank Sam for this one because I didn’t put it together. The day Richie Tozier threw up? Two days before the last disappearance in Derry. And that video of the screaming fit? That was taken in front of the Delta stand at the Bangor airport. That’s just three days after his public vomiting and in the closest airport to Derry.

[Sam updates the timeline]

So we can place Richie Tozier in Derry just in time for the most recent murder spree to end. Could he have stopped it? It sounds like kind of a reach, but here’s the thing. We contacted the companies of the other Loser’s Club members [Sam: we told them we were the Bureau of Labor Statistics] and found out that all of them had either taken time off or just didn’t show up starting on the _ exact _same day as Richie’s puking episode.

How exactly are the Losers involved in what happened in Derry?

[Film clip:

A bright, open room. Beverly Marsh and Benjamin Hanscom are seated on a loveseat facing Peter and Sam.

Peter: Hi, I’m Peter Maldonado and this is Sam Ecklund. We’re making a documentary about the killings in Derry.

Bev: Hi Peter, Sam, nice to meet you. I’m Bev and this is Ben.

Sam: Seriously, best documentary ever.

All: Laughter.

Peter: So you two are from Derry.

Ben: I moved there for a bit when I was in middle school. My mom and I left after the murders though.

Bev: I lived there until my dad was killed and then I moved to Portland to live with my aunt.

Peter: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that.

Bev: It’s fine. It’s not something that I really talk about. I came home one day and found him bludgeoned to death in the bathroom. The police think he was killed by Henry Bowers.]

And wow, that was pretty heavy. But Bev brought up someone important. Let’s talk about Henry Bowers for a second. Henry Bowers was the son of the chief of police back in 1989 and kind of a bully.

[Picture: Henry Bowers yearbook photo 1989]

[Film clip:

Short cut from the interview with Beverly Marsh and Benjamin Hanscom.

Ben: Henry wasn’t a nice kid. Him and his friends once pinned me down and carved this into my stomach.

Ben lifts his shirt to show scars forming what appears to be an H cut into his side.]

Henry Bowers is the one the police attributed the 1989 murders to after they found him holding a knife saying he wanted to ‘kill them all.’ It didn’t help his case that he showed up at the crime scene of his own father’s murder with the murder weapon in hand.

When body parts started drifting into the city after his arrest, it seemed pretty reasonable to believe that Henry had been behind everything.

In fact, about a month into the 2016 string of murders, Henry broke out of his mental institution, killing seven people. From that point on, any of the killings could have been orchestrated by him. There are only three murders that don’t fall into Henry’s window of opportunity. You could even explain those away. One was a hate crime and the other two were children who could have just run away from home.

It looks really convincing that Henry is behind everything. The Losers certainly want us to think so.

[Film clip:

Interview with Beverly Marsh and Benjamin Hanscom.

Sam: So, do you deny that all seven of you went back to Derry at the same time?

Ben: No, we got the call from Mike and left immediately. It was actually really great to see everyone again.

Ben smiles at Bev, ears turning slightly red when she catches him looking.

Sam: So Mike called you and asked you to come home?

Bev: Mike called and told us that Henry had broken out. When we were kids, Henry told Mike that he was ‘coming for him next’. When he escaped, Mike was terrified. We couldn’t let him go through that alone.

Peter: And all seven of you dropped everything to fly across the country?

Bev grins and grabs Ben’s hand, her ring catching the light.

Bev: Yes, and I’m glad we did.

Sam: Did Henry go after Mike?

Ben: It looks that way. I read the article after they found him. Looks like he killed all those poor people and then went after the one that got away.]

When Ben talks about the article he means this.

[Newspaper clip: Escaped Serial Killer Found - Fell on Axe]

Which is just... really suspicious. The article basically implies that Henry Bowers broke into the library while the librarian, Mike Hanlon, was out with his friends. He then smashed up a display case, slipped on the glass, and tumbled backwards to impale himself on a fallen axe. [Sam: Like, come on.]

We reached out to the Derry Police Department and they sent us the official report. It matches the article, but it seems pretty far fetched. I mean, Mike’s alibis? All the other Losers. On top of that, the fingerprint tests they did on the handle of the axe somehow never came back from the county laboratory.

It seems pretty clear, based on the Losers hasty return after Mike’s call, that they took Bower’s threat seriously. And, when you look at the timeline, it can’t be a coincidence that the most recent spree stopped literally days after their return.

So, did the Loser’s Club come back to Derry to help Mike? Maybe. Did they kill the serial killer who tormented them their entire childhood? Also, maybe.

  
  


The thing about the Henry Bowers theory is that it doesn’t explain everything. Sure, if you brush off a few of the deaths in the last 30 years he fits the bill, but what about before? The records we got from Mike Hanlon show that the deaths go back over a century, maybe even further than that. So we started digging.

It turns out, we aren’t the first to investigate Derry. There was even a true crime novel back in the 90s about it.

[Picture: A novel titled Small Town, Big Cult by David Meyers]

In his book, Meyers postulates that within Derry is an organized religion that sacrifices children to protect the town from an evil demon. He interviewed members of a local Native American tribe, spoke to the incarcerated Henry Bowers, and claims that the missing Roanoke colony actually landed in Derry. Kind of a stretch, but a good read. When we met with him he told us about an even stranger encounter that didn’t make it into his book.

[Film clip:

Sam and Peter sit on the couch. A laptop open before them shows David Meyers over video chat. He is a balding man with thick round glasses seated before a set of full bookshelves.

Peter: Hi, David. Thanks for agreeing to the interview.

David: Absolutely. Always happy to help new members of the true crime family. For people watching, my new book Long Overdue about the Chicago librarian massacre will be out February 2020.

Sam: Damn, that’s a good title. We need a title like that.

Peter: So, you were saying that something weird happened when you tried to interview the victims’ families. Can you elaborate on that a little?

David: Yeah. Honestly it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. So, I’m talking to this woman, and she lost her daughter five years before. And I say to her, ‘Marcy, I want to ask you a few questions about Daniella.’ and normally families don’t want to talk to me about loss. I get it. It’s heavy and private, and I’m an outsider. But she just looks at me for a moment and says ‘Who?’

Sam: Wait, like she didn’t know who Daniella was?

David: Exactly. Her face was completely blank. And at first I think maybe I’m at the wrong house, but I turn around and there on the mantle is a family photo! I showed it to her like, ‘You know, your daughter?’ and it was horrifying. I mean, she looks confused for a minute and then she just starts crying. Like huge gushing sobs. It felt like her daughter had died that minute and I was the one to tell her.

Sam: Oh, man. That’s so awkward. What did you do?

David: I left. I told her I was sorry to remind her of something so painful, and I left. But I still wanted to get her opinion on everything so I went back the next day.

Peter: What happened then?

David: This is the really freaky part. I started talking to her, and apologized about bringing up Daniella, and then she did it again. She just looked at me and went ‘Who?’]

So, that’s pretty freaky. I thought he was just playing it up to get air time or something, but Sam had a different idea. He brought me back to that tweet from Sandra. So we followed up.

[Tweets:

**Sandra Andrews @seekingjusticeforbetty** @petrmaldo my best friend went missing 30 years ago and i forgot about it until now

**Sam Ecklund @samecklundiam** @seekingjusticeforbetty how do you forget about something like that?

**Sandra Andrews @seekingjusticeforbetty** @samecklundiam one day i was talking to my daughter and it was like a fog had lifted and i remembered everything. after i told her why i was crying she told me about your show]

Well, thank you to Sandra’s daughter for thinking of us. And sorry again that Betty is dead. Even though I still personally think he’s messing with us, Sandra does kind of back up David’s whole ‘memory loss’ story.

The memory loss is strange, but it might back up the idea of a cult. If there is brainwashing or hypnotism involved, the victim’s families might be conditioned to forget their loved ones. It would also explain the cyclical nature of the crimes. It even explains the three deaths that occurred during Henry’s institutionalization and how he managed to escape. If he had another member on the outside, they could have easily broken him out of the minimum security facility.

Let’s take another look at the most recent killings. The 2016 murder spree was the shortest we could find in the Derry files Mike sent us, with only 12 victims. The second shortest was in 1989 with 34. In both cases the last murder was in the summer, rather than late fall like the other four documented occurances. These two cases have two things in common. Henry Bowers and the Loser’s Club.

Ignoring the ‘tripped on an axe’ story, it really seems like the Losers took out Bowers. So if Henry Bowers was only one member of the Derry murder cult, who else was involved in the murders, and what stopped them?

  
  


Okay, so, I found something pretty weird today while I was looking at the timeline. One of the biggest group deaths was the explosion of a factory back in 1908. I was looking at the newspaper article we got from Mike and that’s when I saw it.

[Slow zoom on a photograph in a newspaper clipping, focusing on a carriage in the background]

It’s kind of hard to read, but writing on that carriage? It definitely says Pennywise the Dancing Clown. And, I know a clown from a hundred years ago doesn’t seem like big news, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard his name.

[Tweets:

**Peter Maldonado @petrmaldo** Would any of the Loser’s Club be interested in talking about Derry for my new documentary? @trashmouth @williamdenbrough @beverlymarshdesigns @hanscomarchitecture @edsktozier @stanleyurisaccounting @mikeisalibrary

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** @petrmaldo it was pennywise. boom. your welcome.]

So, Richie Tozier claims that the murders were done by a clown from the turn of the century. Which, okay, it could be a joke. I mean, maybe Mike has shown Richie these pictures before and he remembered seeing the carriage. But that is really weird, right? It just seems oddly specific. I decided to bring it up at our interview with the Toziers.

[Film clip:

Edward and Richie Tozier are on a comfortable gray couch in a pristine living room. Sam and Peter are seated on kitchen chairs across from them.

Peter: Thanks for agreeing to meet with us. I’d like to start by saying congratulations on your recent wedding.

Eddie: Thank you, it was a long time coming.

Richie: Not the only thing that was a long time coming that night, if you know what I mean.

Eddie elbows Richie in the side, prompting a sharp exhale. Richie presses a hand to his ribs and grins.

Sam: Mr. Tozier, I am a huge fan. It’s seriously such an honor to meet you, you have no idea.

Eddie: Oh god, kid. Please don’t give him a bigger head, we just had the doors redone.

Richie: See? Some people love me _ and _they think I’m funny.

Peter: We’d like to ask you about Pennywise.

Eddie’s face falls and he grabs Richie’s hand, squeezing tightly.

Eddie: Who?

Peter: Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Eddie: We don’t know who that is.

Peter: Richie mentioned him on twitter and we found him in some old articles about the incidents in Derry.

Richie looks guilty and Eddie stares at him with an incredulous expression.

Eddie: Your fucking trashmouth, I swear to god.

Richie: Shit… Uh, yeah. That was just a joke.]

Ignoring Sam’s fangirling, it really looks like the Toziers are hiding something. I mean, Eddie looked terrified at the name alone. So I went back to the timeline and ran the numbers again.

It’s possible, barely, if we take the cult theory into account that Pennywise could be a member. If he was 12 years old in during the murders in 1908, that would make him 120 in 2016. That’s really old, but the oldest person ever died at 122, so it could happen. If he was still alive, he could have been Henry Bowers accomplice during both the 1989 and the 2016 incidents.

We couldn’t find any record of Pennywise, or a real name, so it’s hard to prove or disprove that theory. So can we say that the Losers ever encountered Pennywise? Not conclusively. However, there are some things that suggest they crossed paths. William Denbrough’s first novel back in the 90’s was about a sewer clown that ate children who went outside alone. And that viral video of the Losers’ reunion last year seems to indicate a severe hatred of clowns.

[YouTube clip:

Richie Tozier pulling the string of a clown piñata while the other six Losers beat it into a cardboard mess.

Eddie: Who’s floating now, asshole?

Bev: Old hag.

Richie: Sloppy bitch.

Mike: Stupid clown.

All, hammering at the pile of cardboard: Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown.]

I think I echo the entire internet when I say that the video is just bizarre. I mean, they aren’t even taking turns and at the end it’s clear the piñata is empty.

But maybe the best piece of evidence for Pennywise is this.

[Newspaper clip: Local gay man attacked and killed by three men and a clown.]

  
  


I mentioned before that there was a hate crime during the most recent cycle. Three Derry locals mugged Don Hagarty and threw his partner, Adrian Mellon, off a bridge. According to the newspaper article, Don claims that he saw a cannibal clown fish Adrian out of the water and eat him right there in front of him.

Yeah, crazy. The Derry police dismiss this in their report as hysteria, saying that he must have created a fantasy where he got closure. At the time of the article, Adrian’s body had not been found.

If Don did see a clown, then we have our first official sighting of Pennywise. That’s huge. It’s the first real evidence that this is more than just Henry Bowers continuing his serial killings. The thing is, Don says that he saw Adrian get eaten and we know that’s not true.

While we were looking through the Losers’ twitter accounts, we found a bunch of tweets from Adrian Mellon. Turns out, after washing down the river, Adrian was able to pull himself out of the water but spent over a month lost in the woods around Derry before finding his way home. 

[Film clip:

Don Hagarty and Adrian Mellon sit at a kitchen island. Behind them is a view of New York City.

Peter: So, you were attacked and then thrown into the river.

Adrian: Yeah, fucking small town small minds apparently didn’t like that I was holding hands with a boy.

Peter: And then what?

Adrian: I don’t really remember. They stole my inhaler, and I thought I was going to drown. Or suffocate. Either way, not how I planned to end the night. Next thing I know, it’s daylight and I’m on some shore. I spent the next month and a half wandering around until I found my way home.]

What happened to Adrian is really messed up, but there are some gaps in his story. For one thing, it’s a little weird that nobody saw Adrian washing down the river.

[Animated clip of a body washing down the river, showing the river’s route through Derry]

I mean, the river goes from the bridge where Adrian was thrown off, through the city center, past a quarry, and then out into the woods. There are plenty of slow areas and shallow places he could have washed up or gotten out before he was out of town.

Plus, how did it take him 40 whole days to make his way back? I would think he could just follow the river back to the city, but he claims he wandered through the woods until he found a road instead. I would brush it off as the panicked actions of a frightened man, if it wasn’t for two other strange almost-deaths.

Stanley Uris, who refused an interview, was found dead in his bathtub the morning after the Richie barf. Like, to put it into our timeline, he got the call from Mike and then immediately died.

[Newspaper clip: Local accountant tragic loss, survived by wife]

Which is really sad. Except, then there’s this.

[Newspaper clip: Medical student prank goes too far, local accountant mistakenly reported dead]

According to this article, Stanley got the call from Mike and drove to Maine, forgetting his phone on his nightstand. Then he stayed in Derry until Henry Bowers died and afterwards helped Mike move to Florida. Stanley claims that when he got to town he tried to call his wife but he didn’t have her phone number memorized. It’s suspicious, but I have to admit that I also don’t know anyone’s phone numbers anymore.

Meanwhile, in a terribly timed prank, a group of medical students stole a cadaver and snuck it into a nearby apartment and staged a suicide. That they chose the Uris apartment right after he left is just an unfortunate coincidence.

So the Uris family would like us to believe that a body identical to Stanley’s somehow showed up in his house and then, without contacting anyone for 33 days, he came back and found out everyone thought he’d died. Plus, if we go to our timeline, we can see that Stanley Uris came back just two days before Adrian Mellon.

[Shot of Sam updating the timeline]

And that brings us to Eddie.

[Newspaper clip: 40 year old Edward Kaspbrak dies in house collapse on Neibolt Street]

So, the day Richie Tozier cancelled his ‘It’s Trashmouth’ tour due to the death of a loved one, Eddie Kaspbrak was reported dead. That might explain why he was a little upset at that gate agent, since he was bringing his dead boyfriend’s bags back to Los Angeles.

[YouTube clip: Richie Tozier fighting with Delta attendant over extra suitcase]

I think we can all agree we judged him kind of harshly, since it seems like he thought his now-husband had just died.

I couldn’t find a paper trail to create a timeline for when Eddie came back, but thankfully he cleared that up himself during the interview.

[Film clip:

Interview with Edward and Richie Tozier.

Sam: Eddie, uh, you were reported dead back in 2016, right?

Eddie: That’s right. While we were in Derry we went to explore an old haunted house. We weren’t really worried about trespassing since it had been abandoned since the eighties, but maybe we should have thought about that a little more. I mean, Ben’s an architect, so at least he should have considered the risks.

Sam: So you were inside when the house collapsed?

Eddie: Yeah. We were all in the basement when the boards started caving in. The others made it up the stairs, but before I could get to the top, the staircase went down. I climbed into an old well and ended up trapped in there under the rubble. After a few days I found my way from the well into the Derry sewers and eventually got out. It was honestly the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me.

Richie: Spaghetti! You can’t say that about everything. You told me that _ I _was the most disgusting thing that’s ever happened to you, last night when I kissed you after I li-

Eddie, red faced, slaps a hand over Richie’s mouth and gestures for Sam to continue.

Sam: So, uh. How long would you say you were in there?

Eddie: Total? 30 days. Please don’t ask me what I ate. I really don’t like to think about it.]

We didn’t ask, but the question haunted us after we left the Toziers. I kind of hope it was just rats, but he might have eaten garbage as well. Sam put together a graphic of what Eddie’s life in the sewer could have been like.

[Animated clip of a cartoon man sitting on top of a mountain of trash eating a dead rat and drinking from the sewer]

So, if we go back to the timeline, we have Stanley Uris and Edward Kaspbrak both coming back from the dead at the same time, with Adrian Mellon following a few days later. Honestly, I have no idea what that means, but it’s all a really weird coincidence.

  
  


Although there are some holes, I feel like the Pennywise and Henry cult theory has a lot of weight. We know that Pennywise was at the fire in 1908, we know that Henry Bowers was around for all of the deaths in 1989, and we have the newspaper article where Don Hagarty says he saw him eat Adrian Mellon. [Sam: I guess we’re just ignoring the fact that Adrian wasn’t eaten, then.]

We decided to investigate the possibility of Pennywise while we were getting footage of Derry for the documentary.

[Film clip:

Sam is holding a microphone in his left hand, stopping people to ask them questions in a public park. A statue of Paul Bunyan can be seen in the background.

Sam: Excuse me, have you heard of Pennywise the Dancing Clown?

Woman: Is that the singing clown from YouTube? I love his videos!]

[Film clip - Sam in the park:

Sam: Do you recognize the name Pennywise the Dancing Clown?

Man (face blurred): Get that fucking camera out of my face.

The man runs out of the park, hands in his pockets, looking behind him. When he gets to the street he spits into a storm drain and walks away.]

[Film clip - Sam in the park:

Sam: Have you heard of a clown named Pennywise?

Young Girl: I used to hear him singing to me from those big circles in the road. He has a lot of other boys and girls with him. It sounds like fun.

The girl’s mother looks down horrified and pulls her away.]

[Film clip - Sam in the park:

Sam: We’ve heard of a man who used to live here, Pennywise the Dancing Clown?

Greta Keene: Yeah, I remember that motherfucker. I saw him drag Daniella Murphy into the sewers, and everyone called me Crazy Keener for six fucking months.]

Sam and I reviewed our interviews and put together a possible profile for Pennywise. It seemed like Pennywise was around during the 1989 attacks and from what that little girl said, still active in 2016. Given the reactions of everyone in the park, we also suspected he was attacking from the sewers. There was another piece of evidence that agreed.

[Picture: A novel titled From Gray Waters by William Denbrough, cover shows a clown reaching out from a sewer grate]

William Denbrough’s breakout novel was almost entirely about a clown who lured children into the sewer and ate them. It was criticised for not really having an ending. The main character beat back the insane cannibal but never actually finished him off, leaving him free to return again. Sounds kind of familiar, right?

The only thing that didn’t quite fit our profile was Don’s sighting of Pennywise from the bridge, but closer examination proved the opposite.

[Film clip:

Sam and Peter are on the bridge across the Derry Canal.

Sam: Okay, so according to the police report Adrian was thrown over the bridge just about here.

Peter. Which means that Don was standing here when he saw the clown.

Sam: Are you sure? I think he would have been closer to the fence, like... here, maybe.

Sam stands pressed against the bridge railing a few feet from Peter.

Sam: Wait. Wait, holy shit. Holy shit, dude. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?

Peter: Pretty sure I’m not.

Sam gestures for the camera to zoom onto an exposed sewer pipe.

Peter: Oh my god.]

At this point we were pretty sure we had it figured out. A small group of cultists passed their traditions down to the next generation, training them to take over their practices [Sam: like sith lords, dude] and terrorized the population in Derry. Pennywise and Henry were the latest iteration, and were likely killed by a bunch of famous people and their friends. Case closed. Or so we thought.

  
  


As we were leaving our interview with the Toziers, something that I initially considered unremarkable happened.

[Film clip:

Sam and Peter are walking out the front door of the Tozier residence. Richie and Eddie stand at the doorway.

Sam: Thanks again for agreeing to do this interview. And, uh. Richie I really am a huge fan. Your latest Netflix special was so cool, and it’s even cooler to meet Eddie in person.

Richie: (laughs) Here, let me sign one of my posters for you. Hang on a minute.

Richie leaves the shot and the camera catches Sam looking starstruck. Suddenly a child comes running down the stairs and up to Eddie.

Eddie: Georgie! I thought I told you to wait until the interview was done.

Georgie: I did! I was listening. They’re leaving and I’m bored.

Richie comes back into the shot and hands a poster to Sam, ruffling Georgie’s hair along the way.

Richie: Hey, bud. I thought you were out with your brother. What are you still doing here?

Georgie: Daddy said I needed to finish my homework first and then Billy was busy.

Richie: (laughs) Let’s go bother Billy-boy then. Nice to meet you kids, hope the documentary goes well.

Richie scoops Georgie into his arms and presses a kiss to Eddie’s cheek before walking out the front door. Sam is staring down at his poster in awe.]

First, that clip really highlights what a trash head Sam is. He was nerding out so hard I thought I was going to have to book him and that poster their own room. [Sam: Is that really necessary? He’s cool, okay?] But second, there is some really weird stuff going on at the end there. Let’s start small and work up.

[Picture: Screenshot of Richie Tozier’s Wikipedia page. It shows ‘Spouse: Eddie Tozier’ and ‘Children: George Tozier’.]

According to Wikipedia, Richie Tozier only has one son, and nowhere on the internet can I find any record of him being adopted. So why does Richie ask about his brother?

Georgie gave us a name, Billy, so we investigated deeper. A quick google search for Billy Tozier just has a bunch of country music, and there were no paparazzi photos of the Tozier family with another kid.

We did find something though. I’m warning you, this is where things really leave my comfort zone. I showed this article once before, you probably remember.

[Newspaper clipping: Local boy missing - Georgie Denbrough, age 7, last seen outside home]

Take a close look at the face of Georgie Denbrough side by side with Georgie Tozier.

[Picture: Left - Georgie Denbrough, age 7, missing person. Right - Georgie Tozier, age 10, from interview.]

I’m not crazy, right? That’s definitely the same person. [Sam: One hundred percent.] There is no way, right? I mean, no way. But like, also, kind of, maybe? Because Richie said something that really stuck with me. He called the brother ‘Billy-boy.’

[Tweets:

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** hey billy-boy, imagine publishing a factual account of the worst thing that ever happened to you and then people say the ending is shit. @williamdenbrough

**William Denbrough ✔ @williamdenbrough** @trashmouth beep beep.]

[Tweets:

**William Denbrough ✔ @williamdenbrough** Make sure to pre-order your copy of Under the Townhouse, available April 10th in stores and online.

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** @williamdenbrough why do you describe the hero as gawky, billy-boy?! 

**Edward Tozier @edsktozier** @williamdenbrough this novel is straightwashing. #offensive #basedonatruestory]

[Tweet: **richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** make sure to check out my new special on netflix where i talk about all the times ive seen billy-boy with his clothes off @williamdenbrough]

It seems pretty clear from Richie Tozier’s twitter that ‘Billy-boy’ is a nickname for author William Denbrough, brother of the deceased Georgie Denbrough. Which is impossible. So, um, let’s suspend our disbelief for a second.

If we accept that the supernatural is involved with Derry, it explains a lot about what goes on there. The 27 year cyclical killings, all of which have different MOs and go back over a century. How a 120 year old clown could lift a healthy adult man out of a river without assistance. The strange memory loss that affected Sandra Andrews and Marcy Murphy. It could even explain how three dead men and a missing kid came back to life.

The Denbrough book that Eddie and Richie were hating on, Under the Townhouse? That’s about a funny radio host who loses his childhood crush while on vacation and then finds her soul in the basement of his hotel. He brings her back to life along with a few other people who died under the same circumstances. It doesn’t take much to connect Eddie’s #basedonatruestory with him, Stanley, Adrian, and Georgies’ strangely coincidental reappearances. But again, this is really ignoring things like science and our understanding of the modern world.

In reality, I have no idea how to explain this. Maybe it’s a hoax? Richie is known to be kind of a prankster. I hope it is. Because the only other explanation is… eerie

[Tweets:

**Sam Ecklund @samecklundiam** @trashmouth is Pennywise a demon from the underworld using Derry as a hellmouth to enter the mortal plane?

**richie tozier ✔ @trashmouth** @williamdenbrough hey billy-boy @samecklundiam wrote it better than you

**Beverly Marsh ✔ @beverlymarshdesigns** @williamdenbrough burn]

  
  


[Establishing shot of Derry, Maine. Drone footage follows the Kenduskeag as it travels through the town ending on a sewer outlet.]

Derry is a charming town in Northern Maine with a sinister history. It is home to decades of murders, terrifying clowns, and seven friends who clawed their way out.

What happened in Derry? Was it a demon from the underworld rising up to feed on loved ones [Sam: Yes. Seriously, I am really sure it was a demon.] or was it a series of cult leaders following a ritual started long before they were born?

Did the seven members of the Loser’s Club simply meet up to comfort a fearful friend, or did they end a cycle of terror that spanned centuries?

We will probably never know for sure. All I can tell you is that something happened, and someone stopped it.

[YouTube clip: Seven Losers beat a piñata into the ground chanting, ‘Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown.’]


End file.
